WARNING - MENTIONS OF SELF HARM
"Heath, where did you move the dog food to?" Kyle asks as he looks around the kitchen for it.
"What makes you think I moved it?" Heath frowns, adjusting his hold on Lillie as he turns to face his brother.
"Cause all you seem to do over here is make a mess of everything and move things around." Kyle nonchalantly says.
"It's under the sink." Heath mutters, shaking his head as his two brothers laugh at him.
"What was wrong with where it was?" Kyle asks as he takes it out, pouring some into the dog bowl for Bruno.
"I tripped over it." Heath shrugs.
"How did you trip over something that was out of the way?" Kyle frowns.
"Shut up and feed your dog." Heath huffs, just as someone knocks on the door.
"Stop moving my dogs food and we won't have a problem." Kyle says.
"I'll get it shall I?" Brax shakes his head as he walks to the door, opening it up. "Can I help you?" He asks the two people stood there, the man holding a baby in his arms.
"I was told I could find Kyle Braxton here?" The lady says as the younger Braxton walks into the living room to see who it was.
"Who's asking?" Brax asks, trying to work them out.
"Sorry, I'm Tori Morgan, this is my brother, Justin and my daughter my Grace." She says. "I heard about Jasmine and Ryan Shaw taking his baby, and I just wanted to talk to him."
"If you're here to stop him pressing charges against them, don't bother." Brax slightly huffs.
"Woah mate, we're not here for trouble." Justin quickly intervenes. "We're on your side."
"They tried to do the same to me and my daughter, but I stopped it in time." Tori says.
"You knew them?" Kyle asks, getting nods in reply. "Come in." He says, giving Brax a reassuring nod.
"Thanks." Tori says as they all sit on the couch.
"How did you know them?" Kyle asks.
"Ryan was a sperm donor for me through a medical company as I was running out of time to have my own children. Documents were signed to ensure the donor remained anonymous, which he was happy to agree to. When he married Jasmine, she found out she couldn't have kids. She someone knew he had been a sperm donor for me, and they wanted to start seeing Grace, for her to be in their lives. At first I was hesitant, but then let them see her more due to Ryan being her biological father. Jasmine started getting so possessive over Grace, telling people she was her mother, and I was oblivious to it all for a while." Tori explains. "It all came to light after another mother, from a mums and baby website Jasmine had joined, turned up and they started talking about motherly things. Justin found the website and everything Jasmine had been writing on there, posing as Grace's mother, and that's when things turned sour. In the end, I had to get an AVO out against them because they were so controlling, trying to take over from me. When they found out, Jasmine broke into our house and tried taking her, but we heard her doing it and stopped her."
"Then why wasn't she arrested for breaking her AVO and trying to take Grace?" Brax asks.
"They did a runner before police could catch them." Justin says. "As Ryan was a FED, he managed to wipe the arrest warrants for them both and got away with it."
"Then last week we found out that they had been arrested for taking another baby, your daughter." Tori says, glancing at Kyle. "I can't begin to imagine what you must have been through over the months she was missing, and I'm aware that they haven't been charged yet. I just came to tell you to take out any action against them you can, because they're extremely dangerous people when they put their minds to something they want."
"If an AVO didn't work for you, who's to say it would work now?" Kyle asks.
"It doesn't, but it's a start. A lawyer approached us, asking for us to give evidence at their trial, and we're going to be doing it. I won't be stopping until they get a long time behind bars. I was hoping you would help, so it's guaranteed they go to prison." Tori says, noticing Kyle glance down at his scars.
"Yeah, they need to pay." Kyle says as he glances back up that them, seeing Tori looking at his scars. "I went to a dark place." He mutters.
"Did you get help for it?" She asks, noticing his face. "Sorry, I'm a doctor, so it's kind of in my blood to want to help people." She lightly smiles.
"I was in a mental health clinic for a while." Kyle says, feeling more comfortable knowing she was a doctor. "I've got Bruno now as well." He says, glancing over at where Bruno was still eating his dog food.
"It was a canine centre, they trained Bruno up as a support dog for Kyle, he just didn't realise it at the time." Brax says.
"But I don't think he's going to be needed much as a support dog now, I've got Lillie back." Kyle smiles as Heath walks over to them, handing Lillie over to Kyle as he needed to get to work.
"He'll still be on call most of the time." Tori smiles. "Isn't she adorable!" She smiles at Lillie.
"Yeah, she is." Kyle nods. "I got lucky with her."
"How old is she now?"
"9 months. What about yours?"
"She's 15 months old now. You wouldn't think it when she screams down the house in the middle of the night, she's never been a good sleeper." Tori says as she takes Grace from Justin.
"Lillie's the complete opposite, she's slept well since she was born." Kyle proudly smiles as Justin and Brax head into the garden to talk more privetly. "I know you might not know this, but would Lillie have said her first words by now?" He asks, it having been on his mind for a while.
"It's hard to say, but most don't say their first word until they're between 10-14 months old. Grace was 11 months old when she called me dada." Tori says, chuckling as she shakes her head. "Once she said it, she started speaking more. She now knows mama, dog and banana very well. If Lillie hasn't said her first word to you yet, that's a good sign that it hasn't been done. It will be special to you, they can't take that from you." She says, knowing it must be hard for him still.
"Yeah, Brax said the same." Kyle sighs. "Do you know why they may have taken Lillie?"
"No, I don't know what would make them want someone else's child that had no connection to them." Tori honestly says. "Did you have much interactions with them?"
"No, just once with Jasmine at the hospital, but it was very brief and I didn't have Lillie with me." Kyle says.
"Hopefully the police will be able to get it out of them. But together, we can get them put away for this, we'll get justice."
"Yeah, we need it." Kyle nods.
"Can I ask how they took Lillie?" Tori hesitantly asks.
"Yeah uh, Marilyn, our neighbour and family friend was babysitting for me as I had a meeting at work. She said she left the room for half a minute to get the spare baby grow from the dryer, and Lillie was gone when she got back, and the door was open. Police were there pretty much straight away, but they couldn't find anything. There was no DNA traces, nothing on any CCTV in the Bay and no witnesses." Kyle explains. "We searched every town in the area multiple times and there was nothing. Heath, my brother that just left for work, started the search back up when I was at the clinic but nothing solid came up until a couple weeks ago, and I got her back." He smiles.
"I noticed there's a single scar going down your right forearm, instead of across like the others." Tori starts, Kyle catching on.
"When I cut myself the last time, I accidentally tore an artery. They had to do surgery to repair it in the trauma room, else I wouldn't have made it to the operating theatre. I got lucky that they were able to stop the bleeding, or I wouldn't be here now. I never even meant for it to get that far, I was just in a really bad place. But going to that clinic helped, and Bruno did as well. Getting Lillie back had to be the thing that made me realise I never want to go back to that. She needs me." Kyle says, smiling at his daughter.
"That's really amazing, it sounds like you've come so far." Tori smiles, feeling proud for him, even though they had only just met.
